Health Commissioner Goes After SaltWill ‘Top Chef’ judges be banned from eliminating contestants because they didn’t use enough of the stuff?
ByDaniel Maurer
Mediavore
Boston Bans Trans Fats, Too; Food to Eat This FallCB 6 takes a stand against drunk Fordham residents, and the host of ‘Bizarre Foods’ actually likes eating all that weird stuff, in our summary of the morning headlines.
De Niro’s Tribeca Grill Sued; Fines Talk in City’s Trans-Fat FightDe Niro’s Tribeca Grill is the latest restaurant to be sued by ex-waiter complaining that managers skim tips. [NYP]
Kiwis consider the real key to Gordo’s New York success to be “Waikato farmboy” chef de cuisine Josh Emett. [New Zealand Herald]
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Trans-Fats Fines Round One; Gordo Like BreastsOthers agree: The Ciprianis’ “deal was sugary enough to let the nattily dressed pair stride out of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice John Cataldo’s courtroom looking like the cats that ate the cannolis.” But they forgot to mention the bimbos in Lambos. [NYP]
Related: Ciprianis Get Out of Jail, Open New Restaurant
On the Ciprianis Cooking Pasta — and the Books!
In his new book, Gordon Ramsay reveals the importance of private-equity firm Blackstone in his career, like the company’s bankrolling “the installation of a chef’s table, where … three women showed their appreciation by baring their breasts to the cooks after one convivial meal, he writes.” Way to keep it classy, Gordo. [Bloomberg]
The first round of trans-fats fines, ranging from $200 to $2,000, have been issued to restaurants across the city including Little Guyana Bake Shop in Queens — whose owner “didn’t know [the new rules] applied to bakeries as of yet.” [NYP]
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La Esquina Returns; Little Hope for Chumley’s ReopeningThe downstairs at La Esquina is reportedly open. [Down by the Hipster]
Little progress seems to have been made at Chumley’s, which was supposed to reopen in two weeks. [Lost City]
Shake Shack’s vanilla frozen custard deemed superior in a taste test of national favorites. [Serious Eats]
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Jacob the Jeweler, Sam Mason Want to Sell You Liquor; Farm Aid This SundayJacob the Jeweler will debut his new vodka Bocaj (his name ba-zz-ackwards, yo) at the MTV Video Music Awards. Of course. [Snack]
In more vodka marketing news, 360 claims to be the most ecofriendly spirit on the market as it’s bottled in recycled glass and made from local grains. Bet it doesn’t “shine like a sparkling diamond” like Jacob’s. [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
No more one-drink limit at Sam Mason’s Tailor. Now you can drink as much as you’d like, but it’ll cost you. [Eat for Victory/VV]
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Immigrant Pickers Scant for Apple Season; Whole Foods–Wild Oats DealApples, apples everywhere, but not an immigrant to pick them, New York growers fear. [NYT]
A federal appeals court has postponed the Whole Foods-Wild Oats merger “arguing that it would reduce competition and increase prices in the marketplace for natural and organic foods.” And here, we thought “Project Goldmine” would benefit the customer. [NYT]
Let us weep for the carnies: trans fats have been banned in Indiana. State fairgoers ate deep-fried Snickers and Oreos cooked in “healthier” oils. [NYT]
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End of the Line for Ureña; Rocco Admits Douche-baggeryAlex Ureña is closing Ureña and turning it into “a bistro-style eater called Pamplona.” The modern Spanish curse continues! Now Suba alone carries the banner. [Eater]
Rocco DiSpirito doesn’t seem to mind being called a douche bag: “I was thinking he must have worked for me to know I’m a douche bag,” the chef tells Nina Lalli. [VV]
Related: Joey, Latest ‘Top Chef’ Non-Winner, on Why Rocco Is a Douche Bag
On his Top Chef blog Tony Bourdain has some wise words to console Joey: “Joey’s the chef of a damn famous restaurant in New York freakin’ City. The place every ambitious cook and chef hopes to work — in the big leagues. So he’s already a “Top Chef” — and already a winner in my book.” [Bravo]
Related: Adam Platt Finds the Moral in Last Night’s ‘Top Chef’
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Bourdain Lays Into ‘Top Chef’ Hung; Restaurant to Open in Back ofAnthony Bourdain jumps on Top Chef’s Hung even harder than he laid into Marcel last season: “‘Flavor’ counts for very little in a competition for ‘Top Chef.’” [Amuse Biatch]
Related: ‘Top Chef’ Biases Finally Out on the Table
‘Top Chef’ Non-Winner Lia on What Went Wrong
Kanye West is a soul-food connoisseur, when he’s not eating out in haute Asian eateries like Spice Market and Philippe. [WSJ]
An unrelated restaurant will open Thursday in the back room of Setagaya and will feature Thai, Japanese, and Malaysian food. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Related: New East Village Ramen Spot Insists It’s More Authentic Than Momofuku
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Le Cirque Scrambles for Relevance; P*ONG ExpandingA myriad of consultants and experts are surrounding Sirio Maccioni, giving advice on how Le Cirque can recapture its now-departed magic. [Insatiable Critic]
Dessert bars are a hot enough trend right now that some restaurants and bakeries are transforming themselves at certain hours, while others, like P*ONG, are built expressly for the genre. [NYP]
Related: Because Our Desserts Are as Good as Everyone Else’s Entire Meals
Speaking of which, Asian dessert guru Pichet Ong will open a shop devoted to ice cream, pudding, and cookies next door to P*ONG on August 17. [Strong Buzz]
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Pearl’s Oyster Bar Sues Ed’s Lobster Bar; Ducasse Taking OverThe owner of Pearl Oyster Bar sues the owner of Ed’s Lobster Bar for intellectual-property theft, accusing her former sous-chef of having stolen everything from the paint job to the Caesar salad dressing. [NYT]
Alain Ducasse has taken over Brasserie LCB and is looking to convert it into a bistro along the lines of Benoit, his casual place in Paris. [NYT]
It might not be such a good idea to hire a Top Chef. [NYO]
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Pastis Atop Zagat Nightlife Ratings; City Trans-Fat Seminar FlopsPastis sits atop Zagat’s just-released nightlife rankings, with Buddha Bar, Balthazar, and Spice Market following close behind. [NYDN]
The city invited 33,000 restaurant and food-supply workers to attend their trans-fat seminar, and only 20 showed up. Half of them were city employees. [NYP]
Maybe Tony Bourdain doesn’t hate The Next Food Network Star as much as he makes out. Today brings another suspiciously obsessive-sounding post by the acerbic chef-author. [Ruhlman]
Mediavore
Yep, 66 Going Soba; Trans Fats on the Run in Long Island66 will become Matsu Gen in “late spring” and specialize in soba noodles. [NYT]
Related: Vongerichten May Deep-Six 66, Serve Sushi and Soba Instead [Grub Street]
Landmarc, in the Time Warner Center, is wildly inexpensive relative to its location and the restaurants around it, and Steve Cuozzo is predicting boffo business. [NYP]
Related: Will Landmarc’s Downtown Cool Play Alongside Its Ritzy New Neighbors? [Grub Street]
Think you’ll get your lard fix in Long Island? Not so fast: Nassau County is planning a trans-fat ban. [Newsday]
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Neroni Leaves Porchetta; City Hates Big Pink CupcakeChef Jason Neroni leaves Porchetta, citing “irreconcilable differences,” and claiming that pastry chef Mandy Brown and “most of the kitchen staff” are leaving with him. We don’t know the details (yet), but this seems pretty harsh: The restaurant gave him absolute creative license, as far as we can tell, for as long as it’s been open. [Eater]
Related: Chef’s Desperate Plea: Nominate Me for an Award! [Grub Street]
New Yorkers aren’t really spooked by health violations: “If you take the subway, you know what’s down there.” [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
The city wants Burgers and Cupcakes to take down its huge, incandescent pink cupcake sign because it’s too close to a hydrant, saying, “This isn’t a campaign against cupcakes.” [NYP]
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Chodorow Makes Bold Claim on ‘Today’; Central Park BoathouseThe Central Park Boathouse has allegedly been scamming the city — hiding money and giving away meals. [NYP]
Ollie’s Grill workers, claiming they are paid only $1.44 an hour, bring a federal lawsuit against the place. [NYS]
Jeffrey Chodorow is back to business, promoting Kobe Club on the Today show. The highlight? “This beef actually lowers your cholesterol.” [MSNBC]
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City Against New Rat Weapon; Fatty Crab Gets Liquor License, Special CocktailsSome restaurant owners want to bring in garbage disposals as a weapon in the war on rats, but the city won’t allow it, claiming that the sewer system would be overwhelmed. [Nation’s Restaurant News]
Fatty Crab gets a liquor license and some original cocktails to go with it; meanwhile, McDonald’s will be giving away free coffee all day tomorrow. [NYS]
Ernest Gallo, co-founder with his brother Julio of the much-maligned but enormously successful California winery, dies at 97. [NYT]
Trans-Fat Express
Trans-Fat-Free Labels: Not Just for Potato-Chip BagsIt’s good to see Café Martinique, the restaurant at the midtown Radisson, so eagerly embracing the trans-fat ban even before it officially begins on March 1. And should you want to walk in and toast to your health, there’s domestic swill with which to do it! Thank heavens it’s Coors Light. — Daniel Maurer
Back of the House
Trans Fats Versus Razor Blades; ‘Times’ Inspired by Our RestroomBruni ponders bathrooms, giving a shout-out to Grub Street’s Restroom Report; apparently the Sultan had a pretty nasty encounter with the ones at Gordon Ramsay. [NYT]
Hamptons officials loosen up and consider lifting the music ban in restaurants — if there’s very tight regulation of it. [NYP]
E! wrap-up on the Top Chef finale, including a plate-by-plate account of the competition’s Last Supper, which is more interesting, to us anyway, than whether Ilan got his money and new oven. [E!]
Related: Ilan Won, Yes, But What Does It All Mean?
Back of the House
Ilan May Not Be Top Chef Tonight; Coca Leaf CuisineYesterday’s Ilan Hall winner profile? Just one of two we had ready, says Food & Wine. Read Marcel’s. [Food & Wine]
Related: ‘Top Chef’ Winner Revealed — For Real! [Grub Street]
Bruni weighs in on Top Chef, giving the cooking elements of the show a surprising amount of respect. [NYT]
Sara Dickerman looks at the new wave of cooking shows and finds them all totally ridiculous — but entertaining. [Slate]
NewsFeed
The Japanese Are Screaming for Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme may be in the midst of a sales slump, shareholder lawsuits, federal accounting probes, and a scramble to come up with a trans-fat replacement, but they can at least be happy that, according to our man in Japan, the store they opened in Tokyo last week has touched off a cross-cultural exchange unseen since Beard Papa hit the Upper West Side:
I was in Shinjuku last week. I was there just to hang out and found huge crowds of people … then I look up and there is a huge sign … Krispy Kream [sic]!! People are lined up for an hour just to get these!!!
We hear they go great with cod sperm. — Daniel Maurer
Krispy Kreme Japan
Back of the House
City Speaks on Trans-Fat Enforcement; Empanada Mogul’s Inspirational StoryCritics don’t concern Danny Meyer much. Or so he claims. [Denver Post]
The inspirational tale of an empanada mogul. [NYDN]
Will healthier foods lead to a healthier restaurant business? [Axcess News]
Labor organization mad as hell over economic inequities. [Brooklyn Rail]
The Soup Nazi and David Bouley both come to Miami, but probably not to stay. [Miami Herald]
City promises low-key enforcement of trans-fats ban. “This is not going to be, like, a ‘gotcha’ thing.” [IHT]
Trans-Fat Express
The End of Krispy Kreme, Coffee, and Pizza? There’s Always Denny’sThe Board of Health’s unanimous decision to ban trans fats from New York — on the anniversary of Prohibition repeal, no less — has, predictably, inspired a major and ongoing backlash.
Libertarian organization Consumer Freedom responded with full-page ads in USA Today and the Post, warning that pizza, coffee, and corned-beef sandwiches might be next. [Center for Consumer Freedom]
Even the Times has gotten in on the “we miss trans fats already” action, reporting on how hard it is to cook without them. “I can tell you in advance, the Crisco will make a flakier crust.” [NYT]
Krispy Kreme, the entity that serves trans fat in circular form, probably can’t get with the program in time. [Winston-Salem Journal]
But Denny’s can. [Business Wire]
Finally, restaurants wonder how the law will be enforced. [Dominican Today]
Trans-Fat Express
The Die Is Cast: Trans-Fats Banned in NYCWell, now they’ve done it: The City’s Board of Health has unanimously agreed to ban trans fats from New York City restaurants. Starting July 1, 2007, eateries won’t be able to fry with the stuff. They will, however, have another year to make all their foods 100 percent trans-fat free. That means there’s precious little time to enjoy delicious trans-fat-fried doughnuts and steak fries, and only a year more before we have to give up flaky empanadas and other goodies with the trans fat built right in. (The board also passed the less-publicized rule requiring chain restaurants to print their calorie information directly on the menus, assuring that New Yorkers will at least feel a pang of regret when they order a Burger King “Triple Stacker.”)
Trans Fat Ban Unanimously Approved [Crain’s New York Business]
Earlier: Trans-Fat Haters Winning Hearts and Minds
Biscuit Battles ChipShop: Are White Castles Better Fried or Smoked?
Trans-Fat Ban: The Restaurants at Risk
Trans-Fat Express
Trans-Fat Haters Winning Hearts and MindsIn the fight against trans fats, bad publicity might just do for New York what a protracted legal battle could not. The city’s move to ban the deadly oils, which was rolling forward like a hungry man heading toward a bodega for chiccarones, seems to have been stopped in its tracks, or at least slowed, according this Crain’s story referenced in yesterday’s Morning Line. Part of the reason might be the prospect of a long and costly war with Ronald’s army, which we outlined earlier. But even without being regulated, companies are tripping over each other to abandon the good stuff. KFC took the hint weeks ago. Taco Bell just saw the light, and earlier this week, the Girl Scouts got on board the zero-trans-fats train. At this rate, they might not have to pass the law at all. Except for McDonald’s, of course.
Trans-Fat Express
McDonald’s Kicking Mad Over Possible Trans-Fat Ban
We hope the city’s coffers are full, because this time they may have picked a fight with the wrong enemy. McDonald’s, never a fan of regulation in any form, has hired a high-powered attorney, former deputy mayor Randy Mastro, to block the NYC Health Department from banning delicious trans fats, and the fast-food industry will no doubt be watching closely. The crux of the matter seems to be the question of whether government officials (i.e., city health commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden) can decide such matters by fiat or whether such a ban requires the assent of the legislature. No need to ask us which side we’re on; we’re still mourning the loss of beef tallow from McDonald’s cooking oil in 1990.
McDonald’s Readies for NYC Trans Fat Fight [Crain’s New York Business]
Trans-Fat Express
Who Will Speak for the Plantains?This week’s clamorous public hearing over the nearly inevitable trans-fat ban was not the one-sided affair the mayor’s allies may have expected. Sure, there was a parade of experts saying that the trans-fat ban was the best thing that could happen to New York bloodstreams. And, as expected, a number of restaurant-industry types appeared to contest the ban, our health be damned. But one made a point close to our own hearts (so to speak). Luis Nunez, representing the 4,000 members of the Latino Restaurant Association, spoke out for the flavor of trans-fatty Latin foods. The city claims that all food will taste the same made without the good stuff, but Nunez wasn’t having any of it. “That’s what they’re saying,” he told Newsday. “Now show me the proof of studies they’ve done when it comes to ethnic food.” As we noted when the ban first appeared, it’s not the uptown swells who are going to miss the trans fats; it’s those of us who live on plantains, coco bread, and rellenos de papas. We hear you, Mr. Nunez. We hear you.
Chewing the Fat Over Ban [Newsday]
How Is a Trans Fat Like Rat Poo? (Answer: Not Much) [Daily Intelligencer]
Trans-Fat Ban: The Restaurants at Risk [Grub Street]
Back of the House
Soup Nazi Ladles Out Ego; DiSpirito Waits Tables; ‘Top Chef’• Public hearing reveals support for trans-fat ban and printing of calories on fast-food menus. [NYT]
• And KFC makes it official: minimal trans fats by April — coincidence? [NYS]
• Soup Nazi ponders a self-glorifying museum at the site of his original store. [NYO]
• Alerting us to video restaurant reviews, Andrea Strong somehow fails to nod to America’s Amusingest Food Videos. [NYP]
• Public opens a wine bar; another izakaya, this one with buttons at the table to summon waiters; gourmet pizza on Bedford Avenue. [Strong Buzz]
• Rocco DiSpirito waits tables with Gilbert Gottfried. (A benefit, not our dream reality show.) [NYP]
• Batali goes bi-coastal: Pizzeria Mozza finally open. [Chowhound]
• Absolut, Bacardi, and other reformed booze bizzies fork over $2.3 mil to end Spitzer probe. [NYS]
• “Top Chef” Marisa busts out the bikini. [Chow]
NewsFeed
Left Behind: Contemplating a City Without Trans Fat
With the Bloomberg administration threatening to banish trans fats from the city’s fry pans, we’re being faced with a question we hoped we’d never have to ask: What does a city cuisine stripped of this magical substance taste like? The news isn’t good — at least, not for gluttons. Vegetable shortening, trans fat in its purest form, has a higher smoking point than oil, which means juicier, less greasy food. The shortening also leaves a rich umami, or savory, mouthfeel. But how will this play, meal to meal?
Back of the House
City Fears Unflaky Pie Crusts, Turns to Whoppers and Whiskey• The city bans trans fats from restaurants, despite the fact that nobody minds the stuff, the industry is against the regulations, and New Yorkers stand to lose their flaky pie crusts. (NYT)
• McDonald’s, meanwhile, donates $2 million to childhood-obesity research. (Nation’s Restaurant News)
• And hackers bust open Burger King’s free Whopper offer. (A Hamburger Today)
• More women are hitting the hard stuff. (NYDN)
• In a champagne-and-caviar matchup, fired Gilt chef Paul Liebrandt will consult for Stephen Starr, the mogul behind Buddakan and Morimoto. (Snack)
